Folding stereoscope



Dec. 14, 1954 P. o. MAMocK 2,696,754

FOLDING sTEREoscoPE Filed July 28, 1951 2 sheets-sheet i BY n fort-:Sy

P. O. MAMOCK FOLDING STEREOSCOPE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. /DCzuO./77Q/11oO'/r Dec. 14, 1954 Filed July 28 1951 United States Patent@nice 2,696,754 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 FQLDING STEREOSCOPE Paul 0.Mamcck, Baltimore, Md.

Application July 28, 1951, Serial No. 239,098

2 Claims. (Cl. Sil- 29) The present invention relates to a foldablestereoscopic device for use in viewing various types of stereoscopicblack and white or colored pictures, photographs, -color scenic cardsand the like for purposes of producing a three dimensional effect to thepictures, etc. when viewed i through the device.

An object of the present invention is to provide a postal card type offoldable self contained stereoscope having self contained stereoscopicpictures, and means whereby the device may be conveniently mailed as ascenic postal card or the like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a foldablestereoscope of the present type having a cheap and simple body structuremade from heavy paper stock or light card board, having the outer faceof one of its wall members imprinted with the facsimile of a postal cardand the inner face or the reverse side of said wall comprising astereoscopic picture or the like imprinted thereon or attached thereto.Thereby providing a postal card having a stereoscopic scene or pictureon its reverse side together with a stereoscope, all in a single selfcontained postal card type of unit.

, Still another object of the invention is to provide a stereoscope likethe present structure comprising novel means for readily adjusting thelenses or eye pieces to the distance from center to center of the pupilsof the eyes of the respective operators of the device, for purposes ofgiving the viewer a clear uniform three dimen- Sonal picture.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby a number orset of stereoscopic pictures may be conveniently supported within thestructure at viewing distance from its respective lenses for readilyviewing the respective pictures in a progressive manner when thestereoscope is in .an open and unfolded position,

and thence when in folded position to provide a shallow type box memberfor protectively enclosing the pictures for convenient mailing like ascenic postal card.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists, in thenovel construction and arrangement of parts to` be, hereinafterdescribed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understoodythat various changes in the form and structural details may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any ofthe advantages thereof.

ln, the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of thestereoscope shown in unfolded or operative position.

Fig-ure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,illustrating the rear structure of the lens board and: lens assembly.

Figure 4 is a sectional View, taken on the line 'li- 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is still another sectional view, taken on the line 5-.-5 ofFigure 3 showing the folded portion of the len-s supportingy board.

Figure 6 is a detail view of one of the lens members used in thestereoscope, shown in elevation.

Figure 7 isa sectional View taken on the line 7--7 of Figure 2, showingthe reverse side of the post card portion of' the invention and thestereoscopic picture inrpressed thereon andA shown inl a somewhatdiagrammatic `marmer inl this instance..`

Figure 8 is a full size plan View showing the post card type ofstereoscope in a partly open or unfolded position.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the invention showing the device in apartly open position.

Figure l() is a rear view of the device.

Figure 11 is a front View of the invention, showing the postal card faceof the device.

Figure 12 is an end elevational view of the invention, shown in foldedor closed position suitable for mailing.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, each of whichrepresents the same or similar parts throughout the various views in thedrawings, the invention or post card stereoscope comprises a protectivecover or body structure l, which for purposes of economy may be made ofthin cardboard, heavy paper, or the like, and stamped from a singlepiece of material and having suitable scorings for purposes of foldingand forming the various elements identified with the cover or bodystructure I. ln this respect the body member I comprises a rear wall 2,having an outer face 3 on which may be impressed or printed as shown at3 in Figure 11 the necessary indicia to meet the post oice requirementof a postal card as indicated. The inside face 4 of the rear wall 2 hasimpressed or printed thereon a stereoscopic picture as indicateddiagrammatically at 4', thereby providing a postal card having astereoscopic picture on its reverse side, together with a self containedstereoscope formed thereto for viewing the stereoscopic picture 4 on thereverse side of the card and to be hereinafter described.

The upper portion of the wall 2 is provided with a tongue 5 as shownthat may be threadedly engaged in the slots 6, as shown in Figure 10,formed in the bottom wall or stiffening cover flap 7, for purposes ofretaining the elements of the stereoscope in a closed or folded positionfor compactness in handling or convenience in mailing. For purposes ofholding and retaining the stiffening member 7 in an operative position,whereby the foldable elements of the stereoscope will be held in anoperative or distended position, and to prevent this member fromswinging downwardly into an inoperative position, the side walls 8 and 9are each provided respectively with inwardly disposed tongue members 10and 11 formed from the respective wall members and projecting in thepath of the stiifening member 7, and engaging the under surface of thismember as shown particularly in Figure 1.

The foldable side walls 8 and 9 may be respective end extensions of therear wall 2 as shown, the front ends of these side walls arerespectively provided with small flap like members 12 and 13, see Figure3, which in turn are xedly engaged by cementing or the like to therespective ends 14 and 15 of the lens carrying board 16 and provide thefolding supporting means therefor.

The lens carrying board 16, which may be made of a material similar tothat of the rest of the body structure, such as a light cardboard or thelike, has pivotally engaged thereto by means of rivets 17 as shown, apair of adjustable plastic or the like lens members 18, positionedpartly within the circular viewing openings 19, and normally spaced fromcenter to center a distance equal to the approximate average pupilarlydistance between the eyes of the average adult person, when each of thelenses is in its normal center position. It will be noted the openings19 in the lens board are larger than the convea portions of the lensesthat project therethrough, thereby allowing clearance for the lenses tobe adjusted either towards or away from the center of the stereoscopefor purposes of adjusting the plastic lenses to the pupilary distancebetween the viewers eyes as indicated at 19. To this end each of thelenses is provided with a vertical or upwardly extending adjustment arm20 positioned in the lense board slots 21. These slots limit themovement or adjustment of the lenses. For purposes of holding the upperportions of the lens members in a snug and frictional manner,` wherebythey will tend to normally remain in the position of adjustment set bythe iewer or operator, the upper portion of the lens board is bentdownwardly or folded back against itself as shown in the drawings, andheld in said folded position by rivets 3 23 or the like. Thereby causingthe lens ange 24 and arm to be frictionally engaged by the foldedportion of the lens board. This fold also tends to provide desirablestiifening means for the board member to maintain alignment of thelenses. The lens flanges 24 provides means whereby vision interferinglight rays cannot break through around the lens proper in view of theclearance 19 of the board openings 19 around the respective lenses. Inthis instance the respective lens flanges 24 being suiciently wide tokeep the lens board clearance openings 19 fully covered or overlappedirrespective of the adjusted positions of the respective lenses. Thelower portion of each of the lenses is provided with an eye extensionportion 25 for the respective supporting and pivotal rivets 17, as shownin detail in Figure 6.

For purposes of providing storage or packing space for additionalsteroscopic pictures or cards as indicated at 26 and shown particularlyin Figures 8, 9 and l2, the foldable side walls 8 and 9 and the coverilap 7, are each provided with elongated panel portions 27, 28 and 29respectively for purposes of forming a shallow box like structure forthe extra stereoscopic pictures or cards, particularly when thestereoscope is in a folded or closed position as shown in Figures 8, 9and 12. In this respect the said side walls 8 and 9 and cover aps 7 areeach scored for forming fold lines as indicated respectively at 8', 8,8', 9', 9, 9"' and 7', thereby providing means whereby these elementsmay be readily folded to a closed compact position for mailing as shownin Figures l0, ll and l2. In this respect the tongue member 5 may alsobe scored as indicated at 5', to enable this member to more closelyconform to the top thickness of the closed assembly when threading thetongue into the slots 6 as shown.

With reference to Figures l and 8 it may be readily seen the manner andnecessary steps to close the stereoscope are indeed simple. In thisrespect the small tongue shaped protrusions 10 and 11 of the side walls8 and 9 respectively, are pushed back into their respective openings,the cover flap 7 is lowered far enough to clear the side walls S and 9;these walls are then pushed inwardly along their respective scored lines8 and 9 causing the lens board to move rearwardly thus causing theseelements to fold against each other in a compact manner; as seen inFigure 9, the cover flap 7 is then folded over the closed assembly andthe fastening tongue member 5 is threaded into the cover ap slots 6 asshown in Figure 10.

Another important object of the invention is to provide self containedmeans within the structure of the device of means for increasing andconcentrating light rays to be directed on the stereoscopic picturebeing viewed, whereby a much cleaner and sharper outline of picturedetail is obtainable. In this respect the bracing panel or cover flap 7is provided with a light reflecting surface 35, comprising in thepresent instance of a sheet of highly polished or bright surfacedaluminum foil as indicated at 36, and which may be xedly engaged to thesurface of the bracing panel member 7 in the manner shown by cementingor the like. It is also understood this surface of the bracing or coverpanel 7 may be covered with a high lustre type of aluminum paint orgilt.

With particular reference to Figure 2 of the drawings it will be notedthe 18 degree angular position from the horizontal of the bracing panelmember 7 and its light reflecting surface tends to direct the reectedrays of any overhead source of light to the picture surface 4 of therear wall member 2 or the stereoscopic cards 26 positioned against therear wall 2 as shown. This is an important feature of the invention andhas proven in actual reduction to practice to raise the brilliancy ofthe picture to a comparatively high degree over that which is obtainablewithout this means for concentrating the light rays on the picturedsurface. It will also be noted the reflected rays are impinged upon thepicture surface at such an angle as to prevent these rays from beingreected or bouncing back to the lenses and thereby cause a glare to theviewers eyes.

It will be noted the respective top edges 38 and 39 of the side walls 8and 9 respectively are also angularly disposed for about 1S degrees tothe horizontal, moving in a downwardly direction from the top edge ofthe rear wall 2 to the top edge of the lens carrying front panel 16.These downwardly directed top edges of the respective side walls and theupwardly directed light reflecting bottom wall 7, together with thenarrow lens panel 16 and the comparatively larger rear wall structureall cooperate to produce the focusing chamber 40 that converges in ahorizontal plane as shown particularly in Figure 2 of the drawing,thereby producing a structure of this type of a minimum size with thefocusing chamber 40 allowing a maximum of incoming direct light tostrike the stereoscopic picture, this together with the incoming lightrays that do not strike the picture directly but rather the bottom lightreflecting angularly disposed bottom wall 7, these light rays are notlost, as noted in other stereoscopic devices, but reflected andprojected to the picture surface as indicated diagrammatically in Figure2, thereby producing a brilliant effect to the pictured surface,bringing out detail and intensifying the contrasting of various shadingsof black and white and contrasting colors.

The present invention provides a cheap means for viewing threedimensional pictures for pleasure, education and business purposes suchas advertising and the like, where it is desirable to show in anattractive way progressive steps of illustration in various fields ofinterest.

The drawings and specifications disclose the preferred form of myinvention. However I desire not to be limited to the details of thedisclosure, and it is understood various changes may be made in thestructure without departing from the spirit of the invention as setforth in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A folding stereoscope comprising a folding body structure including alens carrying front panel member, a rear wall structure substantiallytwice the height of the front panel member having means for supportingstereoscopic pictures comprising a pair of scored side wall membersformed integral therewith at each of the respective ends thereof andinwardly foldable at their respective scored portions and xedly attachedat their respective front ends to each of the respective ends of thefront panel member thereby foldably engaging the front panel with therear wall at each of their respective ends, bracing means for keepingthe side wall `.members distended in normal operative position and forcausing the respective front and rear panel and wall members to be heldin normal operative position whereby said members are held in asubstantially fixed unfolded position, said bracing means comprising abottom wall member foldably attached at its back portion to the bottomof the rear wall member and extending forwardly to the front panelmember and between the said side wall members, yielding means forengaging the underside of the bottom wall member and supporting it at anangle so that the plane of its top surface will be at an angle to thehorizontal in such a manner that the plane of the bottom wall will bedirected from the bottom of the rear wall in an upward direction to thebottom portion of the front lens panel member, the respective top edgesof the side walls also assuming the position of being at an angle to thehorizontal, and being directed downwardly from the top edge of the rearwall to the top edge of the lens carrying panel at substantially thesame degree of angle as that for the plane of the bottom wall, saidwalls forming a viewing chamber having a horizontally converging region.

2. A folding steroscope comprising a folding body str ucture including avertically positioned front lens carrylng relatively narrow panel memberof predetermined height and a rear wall panel having a greaterpredetermined height that is substantially twice the height of the frontpanel member, scored and inwardly folding side wall members formedintegral with and extending from each side of the rear wall panel in aforward direction, the side walls each comprising a plurality of panelareas next to the said scorings, the respective front ends of the sidewall members being fixedly engaged to the respective opposite ends ofthe lens panel in a manner whereby the top and bottom edges of thenarrow front panel are positioned with equal distance in a vertical linefrom the respective top and bottom edges of the higher rear wall panelfor purposes of vertically centering the smaller panel with the largerpanel, the respective side wall members each having downwardly disposedtop edges directed from the respective top corners of the rear wallpanel in a forwardly direction to the top corners of the front panelrespectively; an angularly disposed bottom wall panel formed integralwith the bottom edge of the rear wall panel and directed forwardly in anupwardly directed angle to a point in juxta-position to the bottom edgeof the front panel, and positioned between the side wall members, thebottom wall angle and the angle of the top edges of the side Wallmembers converging in the direction of the front lens panel, the widthof the bottom wall being substantially the same as the front lens panelfor purposes of bracing and retaining the respective end panels and sidewalls in an unfolded normally operative position, the side Walls eachhaving bottom wall positioning means extending from the plane of theirrespective inner surfaces for engagement with the underside of the saidbottom wall to keep the same in normal operative fixed position betweenthe side walls, the said side and bottom wall members combining with thefront and rear wall panels to form a viewing chamber having ahorizontally converging region.

References Cited in the file of this patent Number l5 Number UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Name Date Bridge Nov. 19, 1907 Colwell Dec. 15, 1908Couden Apr. 10, 1917 Tolles et al. July 1, 1919 Kindelmann et al Mar. 5,1935 Crumrine May 5, 1936 Branson Feb. 20, 1940 Branson June 8, 1943FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Feb. 29, 1904 Austria May 25, 1921Great Britain Jan. 5, 1922

